SummaryULTRASUPERTAPE aims to demonstrate an unprecedented approach for fabrication of low cost / high throughput / high performance High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) tapes, or Coated Conductors, to push the emerging HTS industry to market. The breakthrough idea is the use of Transient Liquid Assisted Growth from low cost Chemical Solution Deposition of Y, Ba, Cu metallorganic precursors to reach ultrafast growth rates. The key concept relies on the discovery of a tool to control the ignition effect of the transient liquid formation through the decomposition of barium carbonate even for thick films. The capability to modulate the transient liquid state with composition variations and low cost capital investment equipment enriches its potentiality. Innovative Additive Manufacturing and Digital Printing methodologies are identified to devise an integrated system able to address the full manufacturing process from solution deposition by ink jet printing to ultrafast epitaxial crystallization of the superconducting phase. A combinatorial chemistry strategy ensures fast screening operation. Furthermore, ULTRASUPERTAPE will boost Coated Conductor performances up to outstanding limits at high and ultrahigh fields, by smartly designing and engineering the local strain and electronic state properties of nanocomposite superconducting films. The digital-printing additive-manufacturing approach developed will be cleverly adapted to create unique superconducting nanocomposites from nanoparticle colloids with unlimited concentrations. This new instrument is foreseen to be transferable to many other functional applications of advanced nanocoatings, where long length or large area production of functional epitaxial films or multilayer structures are required. Consequently, wise ideas and technology emerged from this proposal are foreseen to penetrate the new energy paradigm beyond the clean, efficient and smart limits that Superconductivity offers.

ULTRASUPERTAPE aims to demonstrate an unprecedented approach for fabrication of low cost / high throughput / high performance High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) tapes, or Coated Conductors, to push the emerging HTS industry to market. The breakthrough idea is the use of Transient Liquid Assisted Growth from low cost Chemical Solution Deposition of Y, Ba, Cu metallorganic precursors to reach ultrafast growth rates. The key concept relies on the discovery of a tool to control the ignition effect of the transient liquid formation through the decomposition of barium carbonate even for thick films. The capability to modulate the transient liquid state with composition variations and low cost capital investment equipment enriches its potentiality. Innovative Additive Manufacturing and Digital Printing methodologies are identified to devise an integrated system able to address the full manufacturing process from solution deposition by ink jet printing to ultrafast epitaxial crystallization of the superconducting phase. A combinatorial chemistry strategy ensures fast screening operation. Furthermore, ULTRASUPERTAPE will boost Coated Conductor performances up to outstanding limits at high and ultrahigh fields, by smartly designing and engineering the local strain and electronic state properties of nanocomposite superconducting films. The digital-printing additive-manufacturing approach developed will be cleverly adapted to create unique superconducting nanocomposites from nanoparticle colloids with unlimited concentrations. This new instrument is foreseen to be transferable to many other functional applications of advanced nanocoatings, where long length or large area production of functional epitaxial films or multilayer structures are required. Consequently, wise ideas and technology emerged from this proposal are foreseen to penetrate the new energy paradigm beyond the clean, efficient and smart limits that Superconductivity offers.

Max ERC Funding

2 496 652 €

Duration

Start date: 2015-12-01, End date: 2021-11-30

Project acronymUMMA

ProjectUrban Metamorphosis of the community of a Medieval African capital city

Researcher (PI)Artur OBLUSKI

Host Institution (HI)UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2017-STG

SummaryUMMA (Arab. أمة - community) is a multidisciplinary project aimed as the first study of the liminal phases of a Christian African community inhabiting Dongola, the capital city of of Makuria (modern Sudan). It will concern the twilight of Christian Dongola and the metamorphosis of its urban community into a new entity organised along different social and religious paradigms. The project will investigate the impact between the weakening of the central authority and migrations of Islamic Arab tribes on the kingdom’s capital city and its community. The notion that the project intends to investigate is that a complete breakdown of this urban organism and its hinterland was avoided thanks to cooperation established between the remaining local community and migrant population groups arriving in the period under consideration. The project will seek to identify strategies of
interaction between the local community and the newcomers, as well as patterns of survival of the old traditions on household level. UMMA will lay foundations for further enquiries into evolution of precolonial African communities and provoke a general discussion on social changes in urban environments. It will unfold a whole new research perspective on the period from the gradual decline of the kingdom of Makuria (14th-15th cent. CE) to the Egyptian invasion in 1820, which is virtually absent from scholarly enquiry to date.
UMMA brings together specialists from several disciplines to carry out an exemplary archaeological project to set the standards for future archaeological research on late medieval and early modern Sudan. The project will combine methods of inquiry used in disciplines like history, archaeology, geophysics, chemistry and physics to obtain a multifaceted, cross-disciplinary perspective on the social phenomenon of liminal periods in urbanism.

UMMA (Arab. أمة - community) is a multidisciplinary project aimed as the first study of the liminal phases of a Christian African community inhabiting Dongola, the capital city of of Makuria (modern Sudan). It will concern the twilight of Christian Dongola and the metamorphosis of its urban community into a new entity organised along different social and religious paradigms. The project will investigate the impact between the weakening of the central authority and migrations of Islamic Arab tribes on the kingdom’s capital city and its community. The notion that the project intends to investigate is that a complete breakdown of this urban organism and its hinterland was avoided thanks to cooperation established between the remaining local community and migrant population groups arriving in the period under consideration. The project will seek to identify strategies of
interaction between the local community and the newcomers, as well as patterns of survival of the old traditions on household level. UMMA will lay foundations for further enquiries into evolution of precolonial African communities and provoke a general discussion on social changes in urban environments. It will unfold a whole new research perspective on the period from the gradual decline of the kingdom of Makuria (14th-15th cent. CE) to the Egyptian invasion in 1820, which is virtually absent from scholarly enquiry to date.
UMMA brings together specialists from several disciplines to carry out an exemplary archaeological project to set the standards for future archaeological research on late medieval and early modern Sudan. The project will combine methods of inquiry used in disciplines like history, archaeology, geophysics, chemistry and physics to obtain a multifaceted, cross-disciplinary perspective on the social phenomenon of liminal periods in urbanism.

Max ERC Funding

1 484 854 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31

Project acronymUNDEAD

ProjectUnifying Domestication and Evolution through Ancient DNA

Researcher (PI)Greger Larson

Host Institution (HI)THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2013-StG

Summary"Between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago, human populations in numerous regions of the world forged closer relationships with plants and animals. This domestication process not only significantly altered the genetic, behavioural and phenotypic characteristics of all the species involved, it also laid the foundations for the first urban societies.
This project will take advantage of revolutionary genetic technologies to characterise, for the first time, the nuclear genomes of ancient dogs, pigs, and chickens. By combining the resolution of thousands of DNA markers with the time depth of archaeology, this project will address major outstanding questions regarding the origins, pattern and processes of animal domestication. This project’s primary objective is to quantify degrees of gene flow between different populations of wild and domestic species in order to address where and how many times early animal domestication took place. I will also type dozens of mutations in ancient samples known to differentiate modern domestic and wild individuals. By doing so, I will determine when these key mutations first appeared and how often similar genes were selected for in different species.
In addition, I will combine the use the high-resolution genetic datasets with cutting-edge morphological methods to demonstrate how quantifying admixture in domestic animals can be used to extend the range of archaeological questions that can be addressed, thereby furthering the field as a whole. More specifically, I will use domestic animals as a proxy to understand patterns of human migration across the Old World and as a measure of population connectivity that may have determined the success and failure of the first North Atlantic settlements.
In sum, this timely and groundbreaking project will provide the first insights into the role of ancient admixture between wild and domestic animal populations leading to a sea change in our understanding of the animal domestication process."

"Between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago, human populations in numerous regions of the world forged closer relationships with plants and animals. This domestication process not only significantly altered the genetic, behavioural and phenotypic characteristics of all the species involved, it also laid the foundations for the first urban societies.
This project will take advantage of revolutionary genetic technologies to characterise, for the first time, the nuclear genomes of ancient dogs, pigs, and chickens. By combining the resolution of thousands of DNA markers with the time depth of archaeology, this project will address major outstanding questions regarding the origins, pattern and processes of animal domestication. This project’s primary objective is to quantify degrees of gene flow between different populations of wild and domestic species in order to address where and how many times early animal domestication took place. I will also type dozens of mutations in ancient samples known to differentiate modern domestic and wild individuals. By doing so, I will determine when these key mutations first appeared and how often similar genes were selected for in different species.
In addition, I will combine the use the high-resolution genetic datasets with cutting-edge morphological methods to demonstrate how quantifying admixture in domestic animals can be used to extend the range of archaeological questions that can be addressed, thereby furthering the field as a whole. More specifically, I will use domestic animals as a proxy to understand patterns of human migration across the Old World and as a measure of population connectivity that may have determined the success and failure of the first North Atlantic settlements.
In sum, this timely and groundbreaking project will provide the first insights into the role of ancient admixture between wild and domestic animal populations leading to a sea change in our understanding of the animal domestication process."

SummaryThis project explores the relationship between climate change and human behaviour. During the harshest conditions of the last ice age European human populations abandoned northern latitudes, with their range contracting to southern regions. By the time ice sheets retreated and large areas of land became available for resettlement there had been a hiatus of at least 7000 years. This project examines the recolonisation of these Northern regions which took place during a period of rapid climate change, the last major global warming event on earth. As people move eastwards and northwards increasing diversification is seen in their stone and bone tool industries which indicate human development. This project examines whether climate a) drove the human dispersal and development, b) played a more indirect role, or c) was of little significance to humans at this time. State-of-the-art scientific techniques (radiocarbon dating, DNA, stable isotope, clumped isotope and charcoal ring width analyses) will be used to create integrated chronological, palaeoclimatic and palaeoecological frameworks that are directly linked to the Late and Final Palaeolithic archaeological record. Temporal and spatial trends in climate change, prey abundance and behaviour, and technological development will be compared and considered in light of regional and global climate trends and archaeological evidence for hunting strategies, human mobility and landscape use. Such data will provide an insight into the conditions Palaeolithic people experienced and how this influenced their perceptions of the landscape they inhabited and the decisions they made.

This project explores the relationship between climate change and human behaviour. During the harshest conditions of the last ice age European human populations abandoned northern latitudes, with their range contracting to southern regions. By the time ice sheets retreated and large areas of land became available for resettlement there had been a hiatus of at least 7000 years. This project examines the recolonisation of these Northern regions which took place during a period of rapid climate change, the last major global warming event on earth. As people move eastwards and northwards increasing diversification is seen in their stone and bone tool industries which indicate human development. This project examines whether climate a) drove the human dispersal and development, b) played a more indirect role, or c) was of little significance to humans at this time. State-of-the-art scientific techniques (radiocarbon dating, DNA, stable isotope, clumped isotope and charcoal ring width analyses) will be used to create integrated chronological, palaeoclimatic and palaeoecological frameworks that are directly linked to the Late and Final Palaeolithic archaeological record. Temporal and spatial trends in climate change, prey abundance and behaviour, and technological development will be compared and considered in light of regional and global climate trends and archaeological evidence for hunting strategies, human mobility and landscape use. Such data will provide an insight into the conditions Palaeolithic people experienced and how this influenced their perceptions of the landscape they inhabited and the decisions they made.

SummaryExposure to coastal floods across the world is forecast to increase to 150 million people and £20 trillion in assets by 2070 (>9% of projected annual global GDP). In addition to cities, potentially vulnerable assets include key infrastructure such as nuclear power plants and ports: the recent Japan earthquake and tsunami demonstrating this. Urban Waves will fill the gap in the engineering design and assessment of buildings in coastal areas subjected to onshore flow from tsunami preceded (or not) by earthquake ground shaking.
In Aim 1 the unique experimental capability developed by the PI to reproduce flows on shorelines from tsunami will be used to provide information for fundamental research into tsunami flows onshore as well as the forces and pressures they exert on model buildings and coastal protection structures. In Aim 2 the experimentally measured force/pressure time-histories will be used to calibrate advanced finite element models of the structures that will then be used to further investigate the influence of bathymetry, topography, tsunami and structure characteristics on the structure forces/pressures. The study findings will be used to propose simplified relationships for tsunami forces/pressures suitable for inclusion in codes of practice (for buildings and coastal defences). In Aim 3, the FE models built will be used to generate fragility functions for buildings that can be used for the assessment of risk to urban areas. The first analytical tsunami fragility functions to be derived, these will also account for the effect of preceding earthquake ground shaking. These will also be compared to data collected after past tsunami events using advanced statistical methods.
Urban Waves capitalises on the PI's recognised expertise in large-scale experiments, structural dynamics, analytical and empirical fragility function derivation and ability to carry out high quality multi-disciplinary research..

Exposure to coastal floods across the world is forecast to increase to 150 million people and £20 trillion in assets by 2070 (>9% of projected annual global GDP). In addition to cities, potentially vulnerable assets include key infrastructure such as nuclear power plants and ports: the recent Japan earthquake and tsunami demonstrating this. Urban Waves will fill the gap in the engineering design and assessment of buildings in coastal areas subjected to onshore flow from tsunami preceded (or not) by earthquake ground shaking.
In Aim 1 the unique experimental capability developed by the PI to reproduce flows on shorelines from tsunami will be used to provide information for fundamental research into tsunami flows onshore as well as the forces and pressures they exert on model buildings and coastal protection structures. In Aim 2 the experimentally measured force/pressure time-histories will be used to calibrate advanced finite element models of the structures that will then be used to further investigate the influence of bathymetry, topography, tsunami and structure characteristics on the structure forces/pressures. The study findings will be used to propose simplified relationships for tsunami forces/pressures suitable for inclusion in codes of practice (for buildings and coastal defences). In Aim 3, the FE models built will be used to generate fragility functions for buildings that can be used for the assessment of risk to urban areas. The first analytical tsunami fragility functions to be derived, these will also account for the effect of preceding earthquake ground shaking. These will also be compared to data collected after past tsunami events using advanced statistical methods.
Urban Waves capitalises on the PI's recognised expertise in large-scale experiments, structural dynamics, analytical and empirical fragility function derivation and ability to carry out high quality multi-disciplinary research..

Max ERC Funding

1 911 315 €

Duration

Start date: 2014-01-01, End date: 2018-12-31

Project acronymURKEW

ProjectUseful and Reliable Knowledge in Global Histories of Material Progress in the East and the West

Researcher (PI)Patrick Karl O'brien

Host Institution (HI)LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2008-AdG

SummaryThis proposal falls in paradigms for historical research in the comparative economic history of long-run global perspective: associated with the scholarship of Max Weber and Marc Bloch. It is focused upon cosmologies and cultures, promoting or restraining the accumulation of useful and reliable knowledge of production in the Orient and the Occident in the early-modern period - from the accession of the Ming Dynasty to the First Industrial Revolution.

This proposal falls in paradigms for historical research in the comparative economic history of long-run global perspective: associated with the scholarship of Max Weber and Marc Bloch. It is focused upon cosmologies and cultures, promoting or restraining the accumulation of useful and reliable knowledge of production in the Orient and the Occident in the early-modern period - from the accession of the Ming Dynasty to the First Industrial Revolution.

Max ERC Funding

1 497 473 €

Duration

Start date: 2009-06-01, End date: 2013-05-31

Project acronymVERDI

ProjectpolyValent mEsopoRous nanosystem for bone DIseases

Researcher (PI)Maria VALLET-REGI

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2015-AdG

SummaryFinding simple solutions to complex problems has been a challenge for humankind for decades. VERDI aims at designing a multifunctional nanosystem to heal complex bone diseases. This is an engineering challenge that will be tackled through the use of building blocks designed on the basis of cutting-edge technology. These building blocks will be assembled into a versatile multifunctional nanosystem that can be adapted through slight variations for the treatment of three diseases of clinical relevance: bone infection, bone cancer and osteoporosis. The novelty of this proposal is the design of a nanosystem that may address several diseases using a unique, versatile and scalable strategy. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are selected as the main component of the nanoplatform because of their biocompatibility, robustness, loading capacity and versatile surface modification. The nanosystem will be modified by rational selection of building blocks, with targeting and/or therapeutic abilities, to tackle either one or a combination of pathologies. These features will enable us to deliver a library of nanomedicines using a toolbox of building blocks, customizing a specific nanosystem depending on the disease to be treated. The risks associated to VERDI are numerous, such as the great complexity of producing completely asymmetrical nanoparticles (NPs), the risk that modifying a drug or therapeutic peptide will affect its therapeutic efficacy, and the difficulty of achieving effective in vivo bone targeted NPs. A contingency plan for each risk has been elaborated. The expertise and capacities of my research group guarantees successful results, which we expect to lead to a revolution in the therapy of bone cancer, bone infection and osteoporosis. Additionally, the application of a single technology for the treatment of three different but frequently associated diseases will favour industrial scale-up process, thereby promoting the transition of nanomedicine from bench to bedside.

Finding simple solutions to complex problems has been a challenge for humankind for decades. VERDI aims at designing a multifunctional nanosystem to heal complex bone diseases. This is an engineering challenge that will be tackled through the use of building blocks designed on the basis of cutting-edge technology. These building blocks will be assembled into a versatile multifunctional nanosystem that can be adapted through slight variations for the treatment of three diseases of clinical relevance: bone infection, bone cancer and osteoporosis. The novelty of this proposal is the design of a nanosystem that may address several diseases using a unique, versatile and scalable strategy. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are selected as the main component of the nanoplatform because of their biocompatibility, robustness, loading capacity and versatile surface modification. The nanosystem will be modified by rational selection of building blocks, with targeting and/or therapeutic abilities, to tackle either one or a combination of pathologies. These features will enable us to deliver a library of nanomedicines using a toolbox of building blocks, customizing a specific nanosystem depending on the disease to be treated. The risks associated to VERDI are numerous, such as the great complexity of producing completely asymmetrical nanoparticles (NPs), the risk that modifying a drug or therapeutic peptide will affect its therapeutic efficacy, and the difficulty of achieving effective in vivo bone targeted NPs. A contingency plan for each risk has been elaborated. The expertise and capacities of my research group guarantees successful results, which we expect to lead to a revolution in the therapy of bone cancer, bone infection and osteoporosis. Additionally, the application of a single technology for the treatment of three different but frequently associated diseases will favour industrial scale-up process, thereby promoting the transition of nanomedicine from bench to bedside.

SummaryThe project VIRMETAL is aimed at developing multiscale modeling strategies to carry out virtual design, virtual processing and virtual testing of advanced metallic alloys for engineering applications so new materials can be designed, tested and optimized before they are actually manufactured in the laboratory. The focus of the project is on materials engineering i.e. understanding how the structure of the materials develops during processing (virtual processing), the relationship between this structure and the properties (virtual testing) and how to select materials for a given application (virtual design).
Multiscale modeling will be tackled using a bottom-up, hierarchical, modeling approach. Modeling efforts will begin with ab initio simulations and bridging of the length and time scales will be accomplished through different multiscale strategies which will encompass the whole range of length and time scales required by virtual design, virtual processing and virtual testing. Nevertheless, not everything can or should be computed and critical experiments are an integral part of the research program for the calibration and validation of the multiscale strategies.
The research will be focused on two cast metallic alloys from the Al-Si-Mg and Mg-Al-Zn systems. The expected breakthrough is precisely to demonstrate that the structure and properties of two standard engineering alloys of considerable industrial interest can be obtained from first principles by bridging a cascade of modeling tools at the different length scales. Once this is proven, further research will lead to the continuous expansion of both the number and the capability of multiscale simulation tools, leading to widespread application of Computational Materials Engineering in academia and industry. This will foster the implementation of this new revolutionary technology in leading European industries from aerospace, automotive, rail transport, energy generation and engineering sectors.

The project VIRMETAL is aimed at developing multiscale modeling strategies to carry out virtual design, virtual processing and virtual testing of advanced metallic alloys for engineering applications so new materials can be designed, tested and optimized before they are actually manufactured in the laboratory. The focus of the project is on materials engineering i.e. understanding how the structure of the materials develops during processing (virtual processing), the relationship between this structure and the properties (virtual testing) and how to select materials for a given application (virtual design).
Multiscale modeling will be tackled using a bottom-up, hierarchical, modeling approach. Modeling efforts will begin with ab initio simulations and bridging of the length and time scales will be accomplished through different multiscale strategies which will encompass the whole range of length and time scales required by virtual design, virtual processing and virtual testing. Nevertheless, not everything can or should be computed and critical experiments are an integral part of the research program for the calibration and validation of the multiscale strategies.
The research will be focused on two cast metallic alloys from the Al-Si-Mg and Mg-Al-Zn systems. The expected breakthrough is precisely to demonstrate that the structure and properties of two standard engineering alloys of considerable industrial interest can be obtained from first principles by bridging a cascade of modeling tools at the different length scales. Once this is proven, further research will lead to the continuous expansion of both the number and the capability of multiscale simulation tools, leading to widespread application of Computational Materials Engineering in academia and industry. This will foster the implementation of this new revolutionary technology in leading European industries from aerospace, automotive, rail transport, energy generation and engineering sectors.

SummaryThis ground-breaking project will deliver radically new approaches to orbital dynamics at extremes of spacecraft length-scale to underpin new space-derived products and services for Europe. These include levitated geostationary orbits for large gossamer spacecraft to massively increase space telecommunications capacity, new displaced polar orbits for continuous environmental monitoring of the arctic and swarms of interacting micro-spacecraft for revolutionary new commercial and science applications. To pursue these ambitious goals, resources of order ¬2M are requested for 3 postdoctoral research assistants for 5 years to establish a European Research Council funded Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory. The University of Strathclyde will provide resources for a further 3 PhD students (¬250k) and a custom suite of offices to host the laboratory. Through extensive European and international links, the work of the laboratory will build on the demonstrated capability of the Principal Investigator to devise and effectively transfer radical new space concepts from academia through to industry and to influence policy-making at the highest levels. Dissemination will be through an international network of collaborators (e.g. ESA, NASA, Tsinghua University) and a public outreach project to stimulate debate on visionary, large-scale space engineering ventures. The project will underpin revolutionary new space technologies and applications and will champion the role of European space engineering as a venture at the forefront of technological and social advancement.

This ground-breaking project will deliver radically new approaches to orbital dynamics at extremes of spacecraft length-scale to underpin new space-derived products and services for Europe. These include levitated geostationary orbits for large gossamer spacecraft to massively increase space telecommunications capacity, new displaced polar orbits for continuous environmental monitoring of the arctic and swarms of interacting micro-spacecraft for revolutionary new commercial and science applications. To pursue these ambitious goals, resources of order ¬2M are requested for 3 postdoctoral research assistants for 5 years to establish a European Research Council funded Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory. The University of Strathclyde will provide resources for a further 3 PhD students (¬250k) and a custom suite of offices to host the laboratory. Through extensive European and international links, the work of the laboratory will build on the demonstrated capability of the Principal Investigator to devise and effectively transfer radical new space concepts from academia through to industry and to influence policy-making at the highest levels. Dissemination will be through an international network of collaborators (e.g. ESA, NASA, Tsinghua University) and a public outreach project to stimulate debate on visionary, large-scale space engineering ventures. The project will underpin revolutionary new space technologies and applications and will champion the role of European space engineering as a venture at the forefront of technological and social advancement.

Max ERC Funding

2 012 038 €

Duration

Start date: 2009-02-01, End date: 2014-09-30

Project acronymWar and Supernature

ProjectWar and the Supernatural in Early Modern Europe

Researcher (PI)Ian Campbell

Host Institution (HI)THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2015-STG

SummaryThe debates of intellectuals both Catholic and Protestant have much to tell us about the nature of religious warfare in early modern Europe. In the seventeenth century, the small numbers of radical Catholics and Protestants who favoured imposing their own version of Christianity on others by force were accused by moderates (no less religiously sincere) within their own communities of promoting wars incompatible with Christian orthodoxy. Religious faith, the moderates insisted, was a supernatural thing, a gift of God, rather than a natural thing, a creation of rational humans, and thus could not be imposed by force. Arguments for religious war in the sense of evangelisation by force were thus resisted by most of the educated European elite. These debates among university-based Catholic and Protestant intellectuals took place in the Latin language and are insufficiently known to political historians of early modern Europe. Political historians examining the phenomenon of early modern religious war impose the modern categories of sacred (which they associate with the irrational) and secular (which they posit must be drained of the divine) on the past, mistakenly assuming that those who opposed evangelisation by force were somehow more secular than their opponents and composing a false history of secularisation.
This project will analyse, translate, edit, and publish these scholastic debates between religious militants and religious moderates on the role of force in religious life in order to inform and re-shape arguments among political historians on the nature of religious warfare. One focus of the project will be the Franciscan intellectual tradition which favoured evangelisation by force. But some Protestants and especially Calvinists also brought the supernatural very far into human life, and the project will insist on the utility of that distinction between natural and supernatural in composing a trans-confessional history of religious militancy.

The debates of intellectuals both Catholic and Protestant have much to tell us about the nature of religious warfare in early modern Europe. In the seventeenth century, the small numbers of radical Catholics and Protestants who favoured imposing their own version of Christianity on others by force were accused by moderates (no less religiously sincere) within their own communities of promoting wars incompatible with Christian orthodoxy. Religious faith, the moderates insisted, was a supernatural thing, a gift of God, rather than a natural thing, a creation of rational humans, and thus could not be imposed by force. Arguments for religious war in the sense of evangelisation by force were thus resisted by most of the educated European elite. These debates among university-based Catholic and Protestant intellectuals took place in the Latin language and are insufficiently known to political historians of early modern Europe. Political historians examining the phenomenon of early modern religious war impose the modern categories of sacred (which they associate with the irrational) and secular (which they posit must be drained of the divine) on the past, mistakenly assuming that those who opposed evangelisation by force were somehow more secular than their opponents and composing a false history of secularisation.
This project will analyse, translate, edit, and publish these scholastic debates between religious militants and religious moderates on the role of force in religious life in order to inform and re-shape arguments among political historians on the nature of religious warfare. One focus of the project will be the Franciscan intellectual tradition which favoured evangelisation by force. But some Protestants and especially Calvinists also brought the supernatural very far into human life, and the project will insist on the utility of that distinction between natural and supernatural in composing a trans-confessional history of religious militancy.